What happens when Australia's biggest music and arts festival becomes home to a community of dreamers, builders, and storytellers?
Join comedian Harley Breen as he uncovers the wild stories behind the biggest festival you just might never have heard of. Broadcasting live from Woodfordia: A 500-acre regenerated dairy farm on Jinibara Country that's hosted the Festival for the past 30 years.
Expect cracking yarns from the visionaries who built this cultural phenomenon from humble Maleny beginnings, plus the artists whose careers launched from this hidden Queensland valley, just an hour from Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
There are familiar faces and unsung heroes who come together to produce something many have experienced as a rite of passage. Like everything at Woodfordia, from the 136,000 trees planted, to our chai tent (one of the first places to serve chai in Australia), this podcast is unfolding, growing, expanding the Woodfordia Universe to invite more of us in.
Many arrive at all ages of life and say 'I've finally found my people'.
This is an invitation into the lives of our people who might just become yours too.
To learn more visits www.woodfordia.org or www.woodfordfolkfestival.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What happens when Australia's biggest music and arts festival becomes home to a community of dreamers, builders, and storytellers?
Join comedian Harley Breen as he uncovers the wild stories behind the biggest festival you just might never have heard of. Broadcasting live from Woodfordia: A 500-acre regenerated dairy farm on Jinibara Country that's hosted the Festival for the past 30 years.
Expect cracking yarns from the visionaries who built this cultural phenomenon from humble Maleny beginnings, plus the artists whose careers launched from this hidden Queensland valley, just an hour from Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
There are familiar faces and unsung heroes who come together to produce something many have experienced as a rite of passage. Like everything at Woodfordia, from the 136,000 trees planted, to our chai tent (one of the first places to serve chai in Australia), this podcast is unfolding, growing, expanding the Woodfordia Universe to invite more of us in.
Many arrive at all ages of life and say 'I've finally found my people'.
This is an invitation into the lives of our people who might just become yours too.
To learn more visits www.woodfordia.org or www.woodfordfolkfestival.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Excuse the microphones at the start. Small Malfunctions, appreciate your patience.
"My passion is the environment, and plants and the animals and everything. So each venue (at the children's festival) has a different feel to it, and I place artists in the space that match that feel."
In this episode, Harley sits down with Becky Wandell, who's been running the Children's Festival (now Tin Lids) for 34 years, and Kate Day, a storyteller who first performed at the festival when she was 19 and is returning this year.
Becky's journey started in the Burnett River Folk Club in Bundaberg in the 1980s, where she and a group of friends created a space for people who didn't quite fit anywhere else. That germ of an idea grew through the magical mystery tours and folk festivals, eventually becoming what we now know as Woodford Folk Festival.
She's been there since the very beginning, working from the bottom up literally cleaning toilets at Maleny before helping to shape what the Children's Festival has become.
Kate represents everything the festival nurtures. A theatre student with dreams of changing the world through art, she walked into Woodford as a young performer and found a community that believed in her storytelling when she didn't yet believe in herself. Now, she's a public servant and teacher who return to remember she's an artist at heart.
The conversation gets beautifully personal about mentorship, legacy, and what it means to see potential in people before they see it in themselves. Harley and Becky reflect on the importance of people who sit behind the scenes, the facilitators who recognise talent and create the conditions for it to flourish. They explore the structure of the eight-venue children's program, the magic of creating spaces where kids feel genuinely respected, and why Professor Wallace's return to do Punch and Judy is such a big deal.
This episode is for:
Dive in to hear about why:
Keen to bring your kids to Woodford—https://www.woodfordfolkfestival.com
Learn more about Tin Lids Kids: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/programme?genres=TinLids
FOR MORE: Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/
CREDITS:
Host: Harley Breen
Guests: Becky Wandell & Kate Day
Producer: Benny Wallington
Executive Producers: Cameron Scurrah & Bree Hickson-Jamieson
Video Editing: Nicholas Haddow
Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson
Music by: The East Pointers
Recorded on Jinibara Country
#RadioWoodfordia #WoodfordFolkFestival #TinLids #ChildrensFestival #FestivalLife
Join the Woodfordian Citizens:
Perks -
- Bi-Monthly emails sharing the ins and outs of the world of Woodfordia and the people who keep the heart beating.
- Special invites to special events on site at Woodfordia. Super special.
- Bonus podcast content
- Early early bird access to Woodford Folk Festival tickets
- Early access to workshop bookings at Woodford Folk Festival
Visit: woodfordia.org/woodfordia/become-a-citizen
More information at www.woodfordia.org
For the festival: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com
For Harley: https://www.harleybreen.com.au/
Credits:
Host: Harley Breen
Producer: Benny Wallington
Executive Producers: Cameron Scurrah & Bree Hickson-Jameison
Audio mastering: Kieron Atkinson
Music by: The East Pointers
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.